Hail damage

Anyone else out in the hail last night in the Stillwater area? I just now got a look at my truck in the light and it ugly 10 dents on the hood and 7 on the roof that I can see.

Is it worth putting in a claim? $500 deductable. I have a 2014 F350 that was in perfect shape, not a scratch on it. I am a little miffed at this whole deal. I bought a diesel this time in hopes that I could have this truck for 10 years. I put 30,000 plus miles a year.

Before pulling a claim, see how hard it is to do yourself. If the dents are in flat spots, it may be easy to pull them yourself. Try the heat and dry ice trick, that usually works on small dents. Otherwise I would try a suction cup puller or a crossbar dent repair kit from Harbor freight. Worth the $15 or so to try before dropping money on a deductible.

Luckily my truck was in my garage, but my commuter car was not as fortunate. fortunately for me (or not so fortunate), it was already as aerodynamic as a golf ball from a previous hail storm, so I have no idea if there was any new damage from the storm.

Sucks to have a nice vehicle damaged from hail…

Unfortunately some of the dents are on rounded corners of the hood. Will those tricks work for that? Is the paint going to be compromised where is was flexed from the dents? I am not a body repair guy obviously. Appreciate the info!

If it was a nice truck prior to hail, I’d surely pay the deductible. I’ll bet it’ll cost $2-3K easy.

I would get an estimate. We had our vehicles damaged from hail a couple years ago. I was surprised at the estimates. They weren’t as bad as I would have expected. My FIL’s car was around 1400.00 and my Yukon was about 1600.00. Both vehicles had damage on almost every surface. I didn’t fix the top of my Yukon which covered my deductable for fixing the other surfaces I could see. If you only have a few dents, a body shop should be able to fix pretty reasonable. The paint was not comprimised on either of our vehicles after the repair was made.

We got hit at Lakefront park in Hudson last night by the hail too. I haven’t looked for any damage yet. From what I could tell the hail was about the size of a nickel.

If you have a heat gun laying around, I would heat the corner ones up and then blast them with a can of compressed air upside down. Be mindful that they have a bittering agent in them and the taste will be terrible if not wearing a mask. The extreme temperature changes may pull them out slightly.

Back to a thread recently about aluminum body vehicles, Ford may have used aluminum on your hood, even in 14′. If that is the case, pulling the dent will be very tough. I am not in auto body, and I know some others on here are and hopefully they chime in. I have done the heat trick, suction cup and crossbar pullers before all with decent success. Will you see the dent after? Possibly, but it’s better than a hefty deductible or an unsightly large dent.

Rats. Your nice truck. Bummer, sorry to hear about it.

Grouse

Sticker –
How large was the hail?

It came down in Woodbury yesterday in 3 phases and got bigger each time. I saw up to nickel sized the last round. I steered my wife away from the area as she was coming home from work so she wouldnt drive into it.

I saw several as large as golf balls Some of them made a pretty loud thump. I stopped 3 different times under large trees. Didn’t really help as the trees were getting torn to shreds also. It’s really hard to sit there and let the truck take the pounding, but I have to think driving into it would be worse….

But think of it this way…Golfballs have dimples to create a thin turbulent surface around it, creating a more aerodynamic structure. Your truck is now more aerodynamic and could result in better MPG…

I would at least get an estimate and if your hood is aluminum it may have to be replaced, we don’t PDR aluminum hoods since it is really hard to keep the aluminum from stretching and causing more damage. You can try heating and cooling the dents quickly it may work ok. Just be careful not to burn the paint with the heat gun.

We ended up with hail damage on our vehicles from yesterday’s storm. And we have our vehicles in the shop right now to get estimates. I’m thinking a $500 deductible will be worth it. My poor Subaru is full of dimples! I’ve never seen such large hail! It was loud and being a true Minnesotan, I rushed to the front step to take some pictures. Most of the neighborhood got hit and I’m sure there will be roofing companies making the rounds soon.

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Here’s a photo from my sibling in Western WI. They picked this up approximately 20 minutes after the hail and rain had subsided (and it had melted quite a bit as you can see how rounded it now is).

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Whether it’s your home or auto, I recommend getting a couple quotes from local reputable companies and basing your decision off of that.

BigWerm wrote:

Whether it’s your home or auto, I recommend getting a couple quotes from local reputable companies and basing your decision off of that.

I cannot answer for auto damage, but I will comment on your home.
Do not have a Roofing company inspect your home as they will ONLY look at the roof and not look for any other types of damage.
I recommend a reputable General Contractor the is familiar with storm damage and uses xactimate software.
A good GC will not only inspect roofing and siding but should perform a comprehensive inspection on windows, doors, decks, pools, sheds, mailboxes, etc.
They can then document and price out at market rate with xactimate.
Remember, as a Homeowner you are required to pay your deductible. Not a penny more or not a penny less.

Sharon wrote:

We ended up with hail damage on our vehicles from yesterday’s storm. And we have our vehicles in the shop right now to get estimates. I’m thinking a $500 deductible will be worth it. My poor Subaru is full of dimples! I’ve never seen such large hail! It was loud and being a true Minnesotan, I rushed to the front step to take some pictures. Most of the neighborhood got hit and I’m sure there will be roofing companies making the rounds soon.

Holy cow, we didn’t see nearly anything that bad in Rosemount. I kind of wish we did…my roof is getting aged…

with it being a 1 ton diesel I would fix it. they really hold there value.
if its in tip top shape you’ll get good cash for it down the road.

if your going to drive it until it gives I wouldn’t fix it.

I’m a MN contractor, and not trying to get work here, but I’m asking that anyone with storm damage or family or friends that have damage. PLEASE don’t sign contracts with the first pushy storm chaser contractor who comes to your door. Call your insurance, let them check your home/property, go to a local lumber yard and ask for names of reliable local contractors. These storm chasers come from every direction for hundreds to thousands of miles away. There’s apps for phone’s that give them up to the minute reports of hail. They get maximum dollars from insurance companies, and most don’t have crews, just a list of phone #s. Just my 2 cents.

I had the same car damaged by two different hail storms, and one of them damaged our house roof (the car was at work the 2nd time it got hit).

I had the car fixed at a body shop the first time, the insurance premiums did not go up. The second time it got hailed on, it had lots of miles on it so we filed a claim and got a $1400 check from State Farm paying us for the reduced value of the car. Our insurance rates did not go up.

For the house, I had the State Farm adjustor look at the roof, selected a reputable roofer and had it fixed, and again, our insurance rates did not go up.

So, if I were you I would file the claim and either take the money or get it fixed.

Got hit pretty good just West of Amery, vehicles in Garage but camper trailer really took it hard.

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